IMAGE  EVALUATrON 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


ilM 

1^ 


IIIIIM 

iiiiii 

1.8 


1.25      1.4 

1.6 

^ 6"     — 

► 

p> 


<? 


/} 


w 


% 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

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Technical  and  Bihiiographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographlques 


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D 
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D 
D 

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n 


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Couverture  restaur6e  et/ou  pelliculde 

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D 


D 


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0This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 
Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

V 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

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Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


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first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —♦-(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

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beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  filmds  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  §tre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

:E®IB5ISIElf  CATiyMISm  S/IS  I^A  B^Mm 


/ 


MAGAZINE  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Vol.  VIII. 


MAY   1882 


No  4 


ROBERT  CAVALIER  DE  LA  SALLE  OF  ROUEN 

AFTER  describing  the  splendors  of  old  Rouen,  M.  Elesee  Rcclus, 
our  national  geographer,  says:  "We  know  that  the  great  Cor- 
neille  was  of  Rouen,  and  among  the  sons  of  the  Norman  city 
we  may  also  name  Fontenelle,  Boisguillebert,  Boieldieu,  Gericault  and 
Cavalier  de  la  Salle,  who  discovered  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi. 
No  statue  honors  the  memory  of  the  great  voyager,  who  died  in 
obscurity  upon  the  plains  of  Texas." 

There  is  nothing  in  Rouen  to  recall  the  memory  of  Cavalier  de  la 
Salle.  Within  twelve  years  his  name  was  hardly  known  to  the  savants 
of  the  city,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  vestige  of  his  history.  One  of  the 
two  or  three  most  distinguished  men  of  the  17th  century  was  entirely 
forgotten  in  the  home  of  his  nativity.  In  1847  ^I-  Pierre  Margry  was  told 
that  he  was  not  a  native  of  Rouen,  but  happily  that  unwearied  investi- 
gator discovered  the  certificate  of  his  baptfsm.  That  taught  a  great 
lesson,  and  we  can  understand  the  enthusiastic  words  which  the  young 
savant  wrote  to  the  Mayor  of  Rouen  :  "  The  life  of  Robert  Cavalier  is 
a  grand  epic.  Nothing  is  wanting  to  it,  neither  the  force  of  character 
which  wills  to  accomplish  them  nor  the  greatness  of  the  results,  nor 
even  that  fatal  quality  of  ancient  tragedy  which,  leading  its  hero 
through  successive  misfortunes,  ends  by  dashing  him,  after  he  has  spent 
all  his  energy,  against  himself." 

This  man,  who  gave  to  France  the  finest  colony  in  the  world,  was 
born  at  Rouen,  in  Flerbland  parish,  and  probably  in  the  street  of  the 
Grosse-Horologe,  towards  the  20th  of  November,  1643.  It  was  not  far 
from  the  little  house  in  Pie  street  where  Pierre  Corneille  wrote  his 
chief  works,  and  it  may  be  that  the  verses  of  the  great  tragedian  were 
not  without  influence  upon  Cavalier  de  la  Salle.  Loftiness  of  concep- 
tion,  like  strength  of  body,  is  a  gift  of  nature,  but  the  elevation  of 
soul,  energy  and  love  of  glory,  which  we  find  in  every  page  of  his 
correspondence,  have  their  source  in  the  study,  and  above  all  in  the 
continuous  reading  of  great  authors. 


3o6 


ROBERT  CAVALIER  DE  LA  SALLE  OF  ROUEN 


At  twenty-three,  La  Salle  entered  upon  his  career.  From  that  day 
until  his  death,  which  took  place  three  years  after  that  of  Corneille,  his 
life  is  a  poem.  The  coldest  writer  and  the  most  methodical  must,  as  M. 
Gayrre  remarks,  necessarily  give  to  his  history  the  form  of  romance. 
One  might  say  that  he  created  the  material  for  the  poems  of  his  great 
compatriot.  For  two  centuries  his  enemies  alone  have  had  liberty  of 
speech  ;  to-day  La  Salle  is  allowed  to  speak  for  himself.  Let  us  follow 
his  career,  but  rapidly,  as  the  necessities  of  our  space  require. 

Jean,  Cavalier's  elder  brother,  a  priest  and  doctor  of  the  faculty  of 
Paris,  was  in  Canada.  That  circumstance,  probably,  had  a  large  influence 
upon  his  decision.  Robert  reached  Montreal  in  1666.  The  south  part  of 
the  isle  was  frequently  ravaged  by  the  Iroquois,  and  the  husbandman  was 
compelled  to  carry  on  the  labors  of  ihe  field  with  weapons  in  his  hands. 
An  advanced  post  was  necessary,  near  the  falls  of  Saint  Louis,  in  the  path 
of  the  savages,  to  give  the  alarm  and  to  sustain  the  first  attack.  The 
commander  of  the  post  must  be  gifted  with  the  highest  courage  and 
prudence.  M.  de  Queylus,  superior  of  the  seminary  of  Villemarie, 
gave  La  Salle  this  very  perilous  post.  The  young  man  from  Rouen 
founded  a  village,  which  he  called  by  the  name  of  St.  Sulpice,  but  which 
soon  after  took  that  of  La  Chine,  which  it  bears  to  this  day.  Grad- 
ually he  made  grants,  put  the  land  under  cultivation,  built  dwellings 
and  enhanced  the  value  of  his  fine  domain,  which  was,  by  the  act  of 
January  11,  1669,  erected  into  ^  fie f  noble ,  oi  which  he  was  suzeraine. 
There  was  nothing  to  hinder  a  tranquil  life,  and  with  the  skill  which 
was  never  wanting  in  him,  he  could  enrich  himself  by  traffic  with  the 
Jroquois.  But  it  was  the  useless,  obscure  existence  of  a  country  gentle- 
man, the  golden  mediocrity  of  the  poet.  It  had  nothing  in  common 
with  his  dreams.  What  was  necessary  to  his  adventurous  spirit  was  to 
enlarge  the  boundaries  of  the  world,  to  open  to  our  commerce  a  new 
way  to  the  mysterious  countries  of  the  extreme  Orient. 

He  understood  the  Iroquois  and  seven  or  eight  dialects,  had  studied 
the  narratives  of  explorers,  made  short  voyages  into  the  neighboring 
country  and  had  conceived  the  plan  of  new  discoveries.  Giovanni  and 
Sebastian  Cabot,  Christopher  Colombus,  Jacques  Cartier,  the  Recollets, 
Jean  Nicolet,  the  Jesuits,  and  others  besides,  had  dreamed  ot  China. 
They  had  sought  it  by  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  by  Davis  Straits  and 
Hudson's  Bay,  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  great  lakes,  and  had  sought 
in  vain. 

La  Salle  had  been  informed,  during  the  winter  of  1668-69,  by  the 
Iroquois  Esonnontouans,  that  a  great  river  had  its  source  in  the  country 


ROBERT  CAVALIER   DE   LA   SALLE   OF   ROUEN 


307 


of  tlie  Five  Nations,  and  flowed  towards  the  sea,  and  that  in  following 
its  course  in  eight  months  he  would  arrive  at  its  mouth.  He  believed 
it  was  the  passage  to  China  so  much  desired.  He  went  to  see  Remy 
de  Courcelles,  the  governor  general,  and  Ealon,  the  Intendant,  com- 
municated to  them  his  enthusiasm,  and  obtained  authority  to  make  the 
discovery  at  his  own  cost. 

To  procure  boats,  arms,  provisions,  rowers  and  a  surgeon,  he  sold  all 
his  goods,  and  as  they  say  burned  his  ships.  He  thus  put  all  that  he 
possessed  into  a  very  uncertain  enterprise,  but  whose  success  would 
bring  great  honor  to  his  country,  and  ojien  an  immense  horizon  to  the 
commerce  of  France.  He  was  then  twenty-six  years  old,  and  already 
he  had  attained  to  the  hight  of  one  of  the  heroes  of  Plutarch. 

In  the  meantime  the  Sulpicians  proposed  an  expedition  int(^  the 
west.  They  had  received  authority,  but  it  was  on  condition  that  they 
should  join  Cavalier  de  la  Salle.  That  would  have  made  the  affair 
neither  one  thing  nor  another.  Dollier  de  Casson  and  Brehant  de 
Galinec  sought  the  conversion  of  souls,  Cavalier  sought  a  passage  to 
China,  and  now  all  accepted  this  combination. 

They  started  from  Saint  Sulpice  on  the  6th  of  July,  1669.  The  expe- 
dition was  composed  of  twenty-two  French  and  seven  boats  of  Iroquois 
Esonnontouans.  They  ascended  together  on  Lake  Ontario  to  tiie  vil- 
lage Asonnontouan  and  to  Eenaouata  on  Lake  Erie.  There  they 
separated.  The  Sulpicians  went  to  the  north,  and  La  wSalle  to  the  south, 
About  six  or  seven  leagues  below  Lake  Erie  he  came  to  the  river  Ohio, 
and  descended  to  the  falls  of  St  Louis.  Compelled  to  take  to  the  land, 
he  followed  a  rising  ground.  Some  savages  told  him  that  the  river  lost 
itself  far  away  in  that  vast  flat  land,  and  was  reunited  in  a  single  bed. 
As  the  labor  was  great,  the  twenty-three  or  twenty- four  men  who 
accompanied  him  deserted  in  a  single  night.  He  thus  foimd  himself 
alone,  400  leagues  from  the  French  habitations,  to  which  he  returned, 
living  by  the  chase,  or  upon  what  the  savages  gave  him,  sleeping  beneath 
the  beautiful  stars  or  in  the  wigwam  of  some  Indian. 

In  the  spring  of  1670  he  was  at  Ottawa.  In  1672  he  resumed  a 
second  time  his  way  to  the  Mississippi,  but  instead  of  descending  the 
Ohio,  he  went  by  the  great  lakes,  discovered  the  Illinois,  descended  it 
to  the  39th  degree,  entered  into  another  great  river,  which  flowed  from 
the  northwest  to  the  southeast,  and  followed  it  tvO  the  36th  degree 
of  latitude,  where  he  stopped  for  want  of  sufficient  force,  but  was  sure 
that  this  river  flowed  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Note  here  two  most  important  points.     It  is  upon  the  39th  parallel 


30« 


ROIiKKT   CAVALIKR   HE    I.A   SALLE   OF   ROUEN 


tliat  the  Illinois  cmj)t.ics  into  the  Mississippi,  and  at  that  place  the  Mis- 
sissippi Hows  from  the  northwest  to  the  sontheast.  It  was  then  tiie 
Mississippi  which  he  had  found.  Moreover,  he  could  not,  having 
embarked  upon  the  Illinois,  and  descended  to  the  36th  degree  save  by 
the  Mississip{)i. 

It  is  objected  that  the  author  of  the  Relation  is  not  friendly  to  the 
Jesuits.  Is  that  a  reason  to  be  considered  ?  Cannot  one  be  a  man  of 
honor  without  loving-  the  Jesuits  ?  M.  Margry  believes  that  the  Abbe 
Renaudot  is  the  author  of  this  memoir.  The  Jesuits  reply  tliat  it 
cannot  be  the  Abbe  Renaudot,  and  that,  if  it  were  he,  the  honor  would 
be  impaired.  Between  M.  Pierre  Margry,  who  has  glanced  over  these 
articles,  and  the  author,  to  whom  I  allude,  my  choice  is  made.  I 
believe  that  it  is  the  Abbe  Renaudot,  and  .'.  persist  in  regarding  this 
savant  as  worthy  of  respect.  Why  do  they  say  nothing  of  Louis  Joliet, 
who  in  his  map  indicated  the  Ohio  and  the  Illinois  as  the  routes  taken 
by  La  balle  to  reach  Mexico  ? 

In  1673  the  Iroquois,  the  Ottawas  and  the  English  threatened  our 
commerce.  The  Count  de  Frontenac  resolved  to  ascend  Lake 
Ontario,  as  M.  de  Courcelles  had  done  in  1672.  He  charged  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  and  Cavalier  de  la  Salle  to  visit  the  Five  Nations  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  to  induce  them  to  send  representatives  to  Quinte  on  Lake 
Ontario.  At  the  moment  of  starting,  the  scat  of  the  conference  was 
changed  from  Quinte  to  Cataracoui  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Gifted  above  all  with  diplomatic  skill,  the  Cavalier  de  la  Salle  per- 
suaded seventeen  nations  to  be  represented  at  Cataracoui.  The  repre- 
sentatives, in  token  of  their  confidence,  came  with  their  wives  and 
children.  Already  the  savages  knew  Cavalier  de  la  Salle  well  enough 
to  be  sure  that  he  was  incapable  of  deceiving  them.  The  dignity,  the 
grand  manners,  the  skilled  diplomacy  of  Count  de  Frontenac  insured 
entire  success.  lie  obtained  from  the  Iroquois  all  that  he  desired.  For 
awhile  these  fierce  savages  would  have  labored  at  the  fort  which  was 
to  hold  them  in  check. 

In  the  autumn  of  1674,  Cavalier  de  la  Salle  came  to  France  and  pre- 
sented at  court  his  petitions  and  plans.  The  King  gave  him  letters  of 
nobility,  the  grant  of  Fort  Frontenac,  and  an  immense  territory  on 
Lake  Ontario.  It  was  the  record  of  the  great  services  he  had  already 
rendered  the  colony. 

At  the  moment,  when  Cavalier  de  la  Salle  demanded  Fort  Fron- 
tenac, the  government  hesitated  even  about  the  preservation  of  the 
Fort.     The  Governor  proved  that,  with  a  single  ship,  which  was  in  pro- 


ROBERT   CAVALIKR    DK    I,A    SAM.K    OF   ROUEN 


309 


cess  of  construction,  and  a  Fort  upon  the  Niap^ara,  vvc  would  be  masteis 
upon  the  great  lakes,  and  that  the  commerce  of  the  North  would  come  to 
the  French  settlements  instead  of  going  to  the  English.  The  Jesuits, 
whose  plans  he  had  counteracted,  insinuated  a  thousand  reasons  on  the 
other  side.  La  Salle  gained  his  cause.  Fort  Frontenac  was  the  pcjint 
of  attack  in  the  chain  of  F(jrts  which  La  Salle  would  construct  in  the 
vallies  of  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi,  the  bulwark  of  our  power  In 
the  West. 

The  grant  of  Fort  Frontenac  gave  La  Salle  a  right  of  lordship  over 
the  isles  and  neighboring  forests,  and  over  a  strip  of  territory  four 
leagues  in  length  and  a  halt  league  broad.  He  was  the  commander  of 
the  garrison,  the  founder  of  the  mission,  the  patron  of  the  church,  and 
the  sovereiirn  of  one  of  the  finest  domains  in  Canada. 

Seeing  him  thus  the  favorite  of  fortune,  his  family  came  largely  to 
his  help.  It  would  seem  from  the  family  papers  which  M.  Mario  dc  la 
Quesnerie  has  kindly  communicated  to  me,  that  they  advanced  to  him 
not  less  than  from  500,000  to  600,000  livres,  or  from  2,000,000  to  2,400,- 
000  francs. 

If  La  Salle  had  desired  simply  to  increase  his  wealth,  he  would  have 
been  on  the  high  road  to  it,  for  he  could  have  put  his  hand  u[)()n  the  best 
part  of  the  traffic  of  Canada,  and  thus  with  little  trouble  m^ide  for  him- 
self 25,000  livres  of  income.  But  commercial  profits  were  for  him  a 
means,  not  an  end. 

No  sooner  was  he  possessed  of  his  lordship  than  he  rebuilt  in  ston*^  the 
wooden  fort  of  Count  de  Frontenac,  having  cleared  the  allotment,  made 
villages  both  for  the  French  and  the  savages,  constructed  bf^ats,  pro- 
vided rowers,  opened  a  school,  common  one  for  the  French  and  Iroquois' 
children,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  these  duties,  he  studied  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi. 

Fort  Frontenac  was  surrounded  by  enemies,  Hurons  and  Irocjuois? 
No,  Frenchmen  !  Louis  Hennepin  and  Zenobe  Membre  were  advised 
of  tlie  snares  spread  around  Cavalier  de  la  Salle.  Would  they  choose 
to  raise  even  a  corner  of  tiie  veil  the  enemy  is  so  powerful?  At  auy 
rate  the  ray  of  light,  which  penetrates  between  their  fingers,  permitr.  as 
to  distinguish  the  group  who  were  lurking  in  the  darkness,  and  we 
could  put  a  name  upon  each  of  the  siiadows  who  prowled  around  the 
fort. 

La  Salle  baffled  all  their  maneuvres  with  marvellous  dexterity.  There 
was  one,  however,  of  whom  he  had  no  suspicion,  and  who  nearly  put 
an   end   to  his    plans  and   his   life.        Nicholas    Perrot,    the   traveller. 


310 


ROBERT   CAVALIER   DE    LA   .SALLE   OE   ROUEN 


attempted  to  poison  IiitiL  La  Salle  has  declared  in  a  letter  that  the 
Jesuits  were  innocent  of  the  crime  of  their  protege.  They  were  his 
enemies,  and  therefore  he  the  more  believed  he  should  defend  them 
when  accused  of  such  a  crime. 

At  the  end  of  1677,  La  Salle,  having  gone  to  France,  reduced  to  noth- 
ing the  calumnies  spread  against  him,  and  obtained  authority  to  dis- 
cover at  his  (.)\vn  cost  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  He  returned  to 
Ouebcc  the  15th  of  September,  1678,  with  thirty  craftsmen  and  the  brave 
Henry  de  Conty. 

As  soon  as  he  arrived  he  sent  men  forward  to  trade  and  to  prepare 
the  ground.  Others  ascended  Cayuga  Creek,  beyond  Niagara  Falls, 
to  build  a  fort,  and  the  first  vessel  which  should  navigate  the  great 
lakes.  All  this  was  not  accomplished  without  great  difficulties.  The 
Iroquois  were  at  work  in  an  underhand  way  ;  a  man  named  Deslauriers, 
recommended  to  La  Salle  by  the  Jesuits,  urged  the  men  to  desert, 
others  proclaimed  that  the  enterprise  was  a  folly,  and  almost  succeeded 
in  seizing  whatever  La  Salle  possessed  at  Quebec  and  Montreal.  He 
made  reply  to  all  by  departing  for  Niagara,  whence  he  had  but  just 
returned  on  foot,  in  the  snow,  almost  without  food,  and  with  a  dog  for 
his  only  companion. 

Arriving  at  Fort  Conty,  he  completed  the  armament  of  the  vessel, 
and,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  he  entered  and  crossed  Lake  Erie,  the 
Straits  of  Detroit  and  Lake  Huron,  and,  on  the  27th  of  August,  arrived 
at  Michillimachinac. 

The  influences  opposed  to  him  at  Quebec,  Montreal,  Frontenac 
and  Conty,  were  felt  also  at  Michillimachinac.  The  men  sent  to 
trade  deserted  while  carrying  the  goods  of  La  Salle.  He  sent  the  ves- 
sel back  to  Conty  loaded  with  merchandise,  and  the  vessel  was  plun- 
dered and  destroyed  by  those  in  charge. 

La  Salle  embarked  on  Lake  Michigan  or  Illinois.  There  were  four- 
teen men  and  four  boats.  After  a  voynge  of  great  hardship  he  arrived 
November  ist  at  the  small  river  Miami,  where  he  built  a  new  fort  in 
order  to  connect  that  of  Conty  with  those  which  he  had  planned  upon 
the  Illinois.  The  3d  of  December,  the  whole  party  being  reunited, 
sixty-three  men,  they  embarked  upon  the  Miami,  passed  the  Kankakee 
or  Divine,  (the  nom  de  guerre  of  Madame  de  Frontenac),  arrived  at  the 
Illinois,  and  stopped  for  a  while  at  the  small  lake  Peoria,  where  were 
camped  4,000  Illinois,  with  whom  they  made  an  alliance.  Upon  this 
lake  he  raised  a  new  fori,  Crevecceur  (a  name  of  deep  signification), 
and  began  the  construction  of  a  vessel  in  which  to  descend  to  the  Gulf 
ot  Mexico. 


RORKRT  CAVALIER   DE   LA   SALLE   OF   ROUEN 


3" 


On  the  night  of  his  arrival  he  was  denounced  to  the  Illinois  Indians 
as  a  friend  of  the  Iroquois  ;  that  is  to  say,  as  a  danj^erous  enemy,  whom 
it  was  needful  to  slay.  The  men  were  seized  with  a  panic,  and  some 
deserted,  after  having  put  into  his  saucepan  a  heavy  d(^se  of  poison. 
They  escaped  by  means  of  some  antidote,  says  Conty,  which  had  been 
given  him  by  his  friends  in  France. 

According  to  Zenobe  Membre,  the  deserters  had  been  corrupted  at 
Michillimachinac.  Conty,  Hennepin,  and  the  same  1^.  Membre  accuse 
the  French  to  the  Illinois  with  having  denounced  La  Salle.  The  docu- 
ments recently  published  by  M.  Margry  are  still  more  explicit.  La 
Salle  foresaw  an  end  to  his  enterprise,  but  the  idea  of  retreating  even 
partially  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  He  sent  Michel  Accau  du  Gay, 
called  Picard,  and  Ilenne[)in,  the  monk,  to  explore  the  sources  of 
the  Mississippi.  Ten  days  afterward,  March  4th,  1680,  he  went  with 
four  Frenchmen,  and  Nika,  his  faithful  chaouanon,  in  a  most  rigorous 
winter,  over  deep  snows  in  which  they  sunk  to  their  knees,  to  seek  at 
Frontenac  rigging,  furniture,  and  provisions  which  he  needed  in  order 
to  continue  the  expedition. 

On  returning  at  Fort  Conty,  he  learned  of  the  loss  of  the  vessel  which 
he  had  sent  to  Michillimachinac,  and  of  a  vessel  from  France,  on  which 
he  had  2,200  livres.  But  this  was  not  all.  Of  twenty-two  men  whom  he 
had  engaged  in  France,  eighteen  were  detained  by  his  enemy,  the  liiten- 
dent,  Duchesneau,  and  upon  news  of  his  death  four  were  sent  out  anew; 
still  more,  his  men  had  deserted  with  his  goods  and  his  boats.  In 
the  meantime  the  force  of  Conty  had  dispersed,  forts  Crevecoeur  and 
Niagara  were  laid  waste,  and  the  magazine  at  Michillimachinac  had 
been  plundered.  It  seemed,  to  use  his  own  expression,  that  all 
Canada  had  conspired  against  his  undertaking. 

Who  in  his  place  would  not  have  owned  himself  vanquished  ?  Who 
would  not  have  renounced  so  dangerous  an  enterprise,  in  order  to 
enjoy  calmly  at  Frontenac  the  pleasures  of  a  noble  position  ?  La  Salle 
did  not  even  think  of  pleasure.  He  hastened  to  Montreal,  arranged 
matters  with  his  creditors,  who  made  him  new  advances,  arrested  a 
a  party  of  his  deserters,  and  started  on  his  way  with  twenty-five  men, 
workmen  and  soldiers,  by  the  Humber,  Lake  Simcoe,  the  Severn,  Lake 
Huron,  and  rested  five  days  at  Michillimachinac  in  order  to  obtain  pro- 
visions. He  left  again  with  twelve  men,  revisited  the  ruins  of  the  Fort 
Miama,  and  passed  on  to  the  Illinois.  The  seventeen  villages  which  he 
had  seen  upon  this  great  river,  his  Fort  Crevecoeur,  his  vessel,  all  were 
in  ruins.     The  whole  shore,  even  to  the  Mississippi,  presented  a  fright- 


I   i 


312 


ROBERT  CAVALIER  DE   LA  SALLE   OF  ROUEN 


tul  spectacle.  The  Iroquois  had  burned  the  villages,  disinterred  the 
dead,  killed  and  eaten  the  living.  The  dogs,  wolves  and  ravens  even 
now  fed  upon  the  remains. 

Upon  a  tree  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  he  made  a  representa- 
tion of  himself,  carrying  a  pipe  of  peace,  and  he  left  a  letter  for  Conty. 
After  incredible  hf'igue,  he  ranched  Fort  Miami,  and  made  it  his  winter 
quarters.     He  studied  the  situation  anew. 

The  skillful  intrigues  had  placed  across  his  path  the  terrible 
Iroquois.  All  that  he  had  done  would  be  without  practical  result;  at 
least  he  would  hardly  shut  out  this  savage  horror  from  the  west.  He 
remembered,  however,  that  a  commercial  and  military  centre  was 
necessary  between  the  basins  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Missisippi. 
Fort  St.  Louis,  which  he  built  upon  Starved  Rock,  and  the  rich  prairies 
of  Illinois,  seemed  to  him  to  be  equally  fitted  for  the  necessities  of  war 
or  the  needs  of  commerce.  His  plan  conceived,  he  began  immediately 
to  execute  it,  that  is  to  say,  he  plunged  into  diplomacy  without  limit. 
He  visited  all  the  neighboring  tribes,  induced  them  to  make  peace  and 
to  settle  around  Fort  St.  Louis,  under  the  protection  ot  the  Kuig  of 
France,  in  order  that  they  might  live,  calm  and  happy  in  the  abundance 
which  Europe  would  supply,  without  fear  of  the  Iroquois. 

What  speeches,  what  subtleties,  what  compliments!  It  is  necessary 
to  see  these  papers  published  by  M.  Margry.  His  efforts  were  crowned 
with  success.  He  could  see,  before  leaving  Canada,  around  Fort  St. 
Louis,  the  villages  of  twelve  nations  who  recognized  him  as  father  of  the 
King  of  France.  As  Lord  of  the  country,  by  virtue  of  his  letters  patent, 
he  granted  concessions  of  land  to  the  French.  It  is  well  understood  that 
this  great  work  brought  him  the  detractions  of  all  his  enemies,  beginning 
with  the  aged  La  Barre,  the  unworthy  successor  ot  Count  Frontenac. 
With  the  culmination  of  coldness,  came  the  movement  to  complete  the 
discovery.  La  Salle  returned  once  more  to  Frontenac,  obtained  credit 
for  fresh  advances,  made  his  deposition,  took  with  him  Conty,  the 
Recollect,  Zenobe  Membre,  Jaques  Metairie,  notary  of  Fort  Frontenac, 
twenty  French,  eighteen  Abenakis  or  Mahingins,  who  carried  with  them 
ten  women  and  three  children,  and  started  on  his  route.  The  6th  of 
February  he  arrived  at  the  Mississippi,  on  the  12th  he  embarked  upon 
the  stream  ;  March  14th,  at  the  Arkansas,  he  planted  the  cross  and  arms 
of  France;  April  7th,  he  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  and 
on  the  9th,  in  the  name  of  the  King,  he  formally  took  possession  of 
Louisiana.  At  the  same  time  he  traversed  fifteen  hundred  leagues  of 
desert,  not   having  any  provisions,  except   the   product  of  the  chase. 


ROBERT   CAVALIER   DE   LA   SALLE   OF   ROUEN 


313 


having  the  compass  for  his  guide.  This  discovery  is  the  most  important 
of  the  age,  but  we  shall  see  how  General  de  la  Barre  viewed  it. 

The  intention  of  La  Salle  was  to  build  a  fort  at  the  mouth  ot  the 
Mississippi,  but  the  lack  of  provisions  forced  him  to  adjourn  his  project 
to  the  following  year.  Me  retook,  therefore,  his  route  for  Canada.  At 
his  coming  all  the  tribes  on  the  border  of  the  river  had  given  him  a 
good  reception;  at  his  return,  many  desired  to  slay  him.  To  what  is  it 
necessary  to  refer  this  fickleness  of  Indian  character?  Upon  arriving 
at  Fort  Prudhomme,  which  he  had  constructed  with  the  Chickasaws,  he 
suddenly  fell  sick ;  and  when,  after  being  confined  to  his  bed  forty  days, 
he  returned  to  Illinois,  it  was  not  to  be  glorified,  as  he  deserved,  but  to 
be  persecuted.  La  Barre,  who  was  only  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  his 
managers,  denied  boldly,  not  only  the  result  of  the  discovery,  but  the  dis- 
covery itself.  Yet  he  did  not  rest  with  this.  He  authorized  not  only  the 
pillage  of  the  canoes  of  La  Salle,  but  even  his  murder,  while  P.  Allouez 
blessed  the  bullets  of  his  deserters,  assuring  them  that  they  might  break 
(pierce)  the  head  of  the  honest  and  valiant  Conty.  Against  all  law, 
La  Barre  arrested  the  men  whom  La  Salle  sent  to  seek,  in  Canada,  the 
merchandise  and  munitions  of  which  he  had  need.  He  refused  to  send 
to  Fort  Frontenac  the  soldiers  that  were  asked  for.  In  fine,  he  confiscated 
the  Forts  of  Frontenac  and  St.  Louis,  compromised  the  results  of  the 
discover}^  ruined  Cavalier  de  La  Salle  and  those  associated  with  him  in 
the  enterprise. 

La  Salle  returned  to  France,  went  to  find  Seignelay,  convinced  him 
of  the  foolishness  of  La  Barre,  who  was  immediately  recalled,  pro- 
posed to  return  by  sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  cap- 
ture the  mines  of  Sainta  Barbara.  The  reports  and  memoirs  furnished 
by  Cavalier  La  Salle,  both  on  his  own  discoveries  and  his  projects, 
carried  conviction  into  the  mind  of  Minister  Seingelay.  In  accordance 
with  his  request,  July  24th,  1684,  he  set  sail  for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
This  fleet  was  composed  of  four  ships,  and  was  commanded  by 
Le  Gallois  de  Bcaujeu,  Captain  of  the  Line.  Beaujeu  left  with  the 
conviction,  we  may  say,  with  the  hope  of  failure,  as  one  may  see  in 
his  correspondence  with  Cabart  de  Villermont.  "  The  devotion  of 
Madame  de  Beaujeu  to  the  Jesuits  "  was  suspected  by  La  Salle.  The 
Minister  warned  Beaujeu,  that,  by  this  "difhcully  he  would  fail  of 
success  in  the  enterprise  of  La  Salle."  La  Salle  was  suspicious  of 
Beaujeu.  This  Captain,  who  believed  himself  to  be  the  ablest  Captain 
of  the  French  marine,  passed,  without  recognizing,  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi.     This   man   who   always  spoke  of   his  own  impeccability, 


314 


ROBERT   CAVALIER  DE   LA   SALLE   OF   ROUEN 


forgetting  his  sojourn  for  nine  months  at  the  Tower  of  Rochelle,  and  his 
cassation,  refused  to  comply  with  the  demand  of  La  Salle,  who  told  him 
that  he  had  passed  their  destinaton.  But  I  do  not  desire  to  accuse  him 
of  the  loss  of  the  fly-boat  Aimiable,  for  which  the  Chevalier  Aigron  was 
imprisoned  upon  his  return  to  France,  but  I  am  not  able  to  repress  the 
remark,  that  he  did  all  that  was  necessary  to  defeat  the  enterprise,  in 
order  to  justify  his  prejudices  against  La  Salle.  It  suffices  to  say,  that 
he  debarked  La  Salle  in  the  Bay  of  Matagorda,  instead  of  landing  him  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  that  he  gave  him  cannon  without  balls, 
because  to  obtain  the  balls  which  were  intended  for  the  expedition,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  derange  the  storage. 

His  jealousy  survived  La  Salle.  When  Le  Moyne  and  Iberville  were 
sent  to  find  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  which  they  discovered  by 
the  indications  of  La  Salle,  Beaujeu  did  not  cease  to  predict  failure,  and 
after  success,  to  depreciate  the  value  of  its  utility. 

La  Salle,  abandoned  by  his  companions,  constructed  forts,  made 
attempt  on  attempt  to  reach  the  Mississippi  by  land.  One  should 
read  in  the  Journal  of  Joutel  of  Rouen,  the  accounts  of  his  prodigious 
efforts.  He  was  about  to  succeed,  when  he  was  assassinated  at  the 
corner  of  a  forest,  March  19,  1687.  He  was  forty-three  years  and  four 
months  old,  and  it  was  twenty  years  since  he  entered  into  our  colonial 
domain. 

Let  us  recapitulate  the  acts  of  the  discoverer.  He  explored 
North  America,  north  and  south;  he  established  a  chain  of  forts  from 
the  entrance  of  Lake  Ontairio  to  the  mouths  of  the  Mississppi ;  he 
inaugurated  navigation  on  the  Great  Lakes,  by  the  discovery  of  the 
Ohio,  the  Wabash,  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi ;  he  opened  the  com- 
merce with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  by  his  colonies  of  Frontenac  and  of 
Illinois,  he  fortified  us  against  the  English  ;  by  his  point  against  the 
Spanish  mines,  he  showed  us  the  possibility,  the  necessity  of  conquering 
Texas.  It  is  with  much  reason  that  the  Americans  have  placed  his 
great  name  upon  the  map  of  Texas  and  of  Illinois;  it  is  with  reason 
that  they  have  placed  his  portrait  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington ;  it  is 
assuredly  a  wrong  that  his  native  city  has  done  nothing  to  honor  his 
memory. 

GABRIEL  GRAVIER, 

Honorary  President,  and  General  Secretary 

of  the  Normand  Geographical  Society. 


